Common electrolyte manifold batteries are common in the art. In such batteries, leakage currents are invariably present which cause the degradation of a battery's efficiency and ultimately lead to the self-discharge of the battery. Minimizing leakage currents, therefore, is an attribute sought by the inventors of prior art batteries. In addition to the leakage current problem, short circuiting of the bipolar-plate stack is also an inevitable consequence. Short circuiting of the bipolar plates occurs because dendrites have grown to such an extent that two adjacent plates are bridged. Minimizing or retarding the growth of such dendrites is also a desired goal of prior art battery inventors.
To alleviate these disadvantages, prior art techniques included either filling each battery cell individually with a compressed gas or ventilating the electrolyte manifold with such a compressed gas in order to eliminate leakage currents. These techniques, in turn, are not efficient in that the resultant manifold arrangement tended to be rather complex when individual cells are required to be filled. In addition, the ventilation or blowing out of the manifold not only reduced the sensitivity of the battery as to its orientation but also created difficulties in controlling the leaking of the electrolyte back into the manifold. Thus, the two goals of minimizing internal electrical losses and retarding growth of dendrites were not readily achieved in the prior art.